Sexbierum-St. Jacobiparochie | Klooster Claercamppad pilgrimage trail: Stage 13

The last stage of the Klooster Claercamppad pilgrimage trail takes you from the village of Sexbierum to Sint Jacobiparochie, the starting point of one of the routes to the great pilgrimage site of Santiago de Compostela.

At the village of Sexbierum, which was built on a salt marsh, you can see a medieval fortified manor with an old gatehouse, the 12th-century Sixtus church with its lavish furnishings, a Dutch Reformed Church built in the style of the Amsterdam School and a historic windmill surrounded by a garden with old varieties of fruit trees and plants. 

The trail takes you past Latsma State country house, along Fiskerspaed lane between fields of potatoes, carrots and beets to the sea dike. Just before the sea dike, you will see an old drainage ditch that is now a stopping place for meadow and water birds. You walk along the sea dike for a while then turn right onto the Slachtedyk dike, a famous secondary or ‘sleeper’ dike that leads to the village of Oosterbierum.

A winding crushed-shell path leads to a monastery garden inspired by Lidlum monastery, which once stood on Kapellewei road to the east of the village. This garden was planted on land that belongs to the Sint-Joriskerk (St George) church, further down the road. Just as the old monastery was a place where lay brothers worked together, the new monastery garden forms a bond between many of the villagers.  

Now back to the Wadden Sea one last time. Then along the Griene Dyk dike through the farmland of Friesland to the Groate Kerk church at Sint Jacobiparochie. The stunning views of the polders of the Het Bildt region from the top of the dike make for a wonderful end to the Klooster Claercamppad pilgrimage trail.

This route is part of the Klooster Claercamppad pilgrimage trail.